At the Brink of Dawn (All Hell Breaks Loose)
by rapturemelancholia
Summary: Aurora, an intelligent young doctor finds herself in the Big Empty along with her sister, Nova - the Courier. Nova runs errands for the mad scientists while her sister can finally put her intelligence to use. For science, Aurora would gladly do anything.
1. Prologue

New Vegas was a place of gamblers and drunks, and the devious ones. It was there that the Strip lit up the night sky from miles away, luring all kinds of people to try their luck - that was if they could get in. Most, however, ended up dead along a deserted road, getting feasted upon by coyotes or feral ghouls.

There was a particular Courier that wandered the Mojave desert, delivering packages to those who paid. This Courier - a young, fiery woman - had been the ace in the deck, the knight in a chess game for a higher power. This higher power was simply called, "Mr. House". No one had ever seen him in person, in fact, no one even knew if he was human or not.

On one unfaithful night, the Courier was ambushed and shot in the head. She was buried in the cold dirt and left to rot. What no one had counted on was that the Courier had survived, stubborn as she was, and now wanted answers and revenge.

And so the Courier's long journey began in the small, quiet town of Goodsprings.

However...

That is not the story you will be told, but rather the one about the lanky, quiet girl who accompanied the Courier. The Courier's own sister, Aurora.

Unlike her gun-enthusiastic and angry sister, Aurora enjoyed simpler things like reading and creating bombs (though not using them herself). Aurora had been told she was useless in combat, to which she had agreed. Because of that, she mostly spent her time in the Presidental Suite in the Lucky 38 while her sister roamed the desert with an alcoholic woman called Cass (or Whiskey Rose).

With the company of the robodog, Rex, Aurora laid on the floor, elbows propped up to support her back as she read the Big Book of Science. She was interrupted from her reading when the elevator doors opened and a familiar ding echoed through the suite. "Welcome back, Nova!" She yelled from the entertainment room. "How'd it go? With Caesar and all..."

The Courier, Nova, grunted, kicking off her dirt stained boots, "Sonofabitch thinks I'll work for him. Found that bastard who shot me, though. I put a bullet right through his brain."

"Oh... Well, I'm glad that you're okay at least."

Nova poked her head in the doorway, grinning like an idiot with something behind her back. "Got a gift for you."

Aurora raised her brow, curiosity quickly taking hold of her, "What is it?" She asked and discretely tried to peek behind her sister's back.

"Here." Nova held out a gun to Aurora, a soft smile on her face. "Think it was called Maria or somethin'."

The gun was a simple 45 caliber with a beautiful, gemstone spotted engravement on its grip that depicted the virgin Maria with her arms raised to the sky as if she was calling out to god himself. Aurora took it in her hand, surprised that it didn't weigh too much. Surprisingly, it was also clean and not a speck of rust could be seen on the surface. She smiled and thanked her sister with a tight hug. "I can't believe a thing like this still exists! I mean, look at it! It is engraved with fucking gemstones! And don't get me started on mother Mary..."

"Don't worry," Nova gave her a pat on the head, "I won't even ask about it." Her eyes then turned serious as she said in a hushed voice, "I found something really weird on my way back. It was a satellite, but it was lit up and it projected a moving eye on what used to be a drive-in cinema board. It was fuckin' looking at me, I swear. It saw me."

Aurora furrowed her brows and bit her lip, "Are you sure? You weren't like... stung by a Cazador? Were you drunk?"

Nova scoffed and yelled, "No! I know what I saw!" She ran a hand through her unwashed, auburn hair and continued, "Maybe I'm not as smart as you, but that thing was high-tech. Not even the Brotherhood has that kind of technology. Just... pack some things and I'll show you. It's not far, maybe a day or two of walking." She looked at Aurora with pleading eyes.

With a sigh, Aurora reluctantly agreed and started packing her things in a duffel bag. 'A day or two my ass...' She thought and shook her head.

"Huh... that is... um... well... it's-"

Nova hushed her sister, "Strange? I know."

Aurora crouched down and tapped the glass dome which was emitting a glowing blue light. "What the hell is this thing?" She asked herself, baffled by the strange satellite.

Nova crouched down beside her, "Dunno, I thought you would have an idea." She shot Aurora a quick glance.

"Well..." Aurora began to twist the dome, "I'm not sure, but it could be a tracker or a capsule? Who knows." The dome popped off and revealed... yet another glass dome. "Or maybe it's a fucking piece of trash. Just a possibility." One thing the sisters had in common was their short temper.

"Yeah now it's trash, you freaking broke it!"

"I didn't, I was just-what the hell?"

With a flash of bright light, they had vanished. No trace of them was left behind, and it was as if they had never existed at all. They were simply... gone.


	2. Chapter 1: Brains and Science!

_**"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known." ― Carl Sagan**_

* * *

Aurora awoke on a cold, hard floor to the sound of loud voices. She could hear her sister's agitated voice arguing loud amongst the other unknown voices. She groaned as she tried to stand up, her legs failing her. She landed hard on her knees and let out a grunt.

"OH, GREAT. THE OTHER lobotomite HAS WOKEN UP. DALA, WHY DID YOU KEEP BOTH OF THEM ALIVE?" the voice was booming, as if the one speaking could not hear properly and did not realize he was being so loud.

"Doctor Klein... I simply could not let this little teddy-bear go to waste. It is most unusual for its kind. I could not stand a breathing creature, breathing in... and out, to simply not breathe anymore." The voice was unnervingly sensual and seemed to belong to a woman.

Aurora opened her eyes but found that her vision was too blurry to see what was going on, or who was speaking. Someone gripped her arm forcefully, and she realized it was her sister. Too dizzy to do anything, Aurora didn't protest.

"Are you okay, Rory? How you feelin'?" Nova spoke softly as she let her sister lean against her for support.

"W-What happened? Where are we?" Aurora stuttered as she finally regained her vision. Looking up, she noticed five robots. All of them had three screens, two of which featured eyes and were higher than the last screen which featured an unmoving mouth. The screens were connected to a tank that contained a brain floating in an unknown matter. The robots each had a different color, which surely was to distinguish themselves from one another.

"IT SPEAKS, JUST LIKE ITS COUNTERPART. IS IT AS UNINTELLIGENT AS it, THOUGH?"

Aurora blinked in confusion, "Lobotomite?" With wide eyes, she ran her fingers across her scalp and to the back of her head and found a fresh incision that had been stitched shut. "This feels... odd. I don't have a brain..."

"*Actually, you don't have a spine or heart, either. Fun, isn't it?*"

She turned her head toward the robot who had said it and frowned. "I wouldn't call it fun. Besides, you still have a brain, don't you? So you have no idea if it is fun or not."

"*Ah, good point.*" It sounded embarrassed.

Nova stared at her sister, amazed that she hadn't freaked out like she had. "And you're okay with it?" She yelled, pacing back and forth in a circle. "They fuckin' scooped out our brains and all you say is 'this feels odd'?"

Aurora shrugged, "Yeah, having a brain has its benefits, but it has way more problems. Spines can break, you know. They're very fragile. It's the same with the heart, it's useless if you have the right technology that can replace it." Turning to the robots she continued, "Who are you?"

"WE ARE THE think tanks OF BIG MOUNTAIN AND I AM DOCTOR KLEIN."

"Pardon?"

It groaned, "THINK TANKS. WE ARE THE THINK TANKS. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM SAYING?"

Rolling her eyes, Aurora snarled, "I heard you the first time. I just don't know what a 'think tank' is." She did an air quote with an annoyed look on her face.

"We used to be human, like you, before the war. To continue our research we transferred our brains into these tanks so we could live forever and continue working." Said the feminine robot, whom 'Doctor Klein' had called Dala.

"In the name of SCIENCE!" Beamed another voice.

Aurora's eyes lit up at the mention of science. "So you are scientists then? What kind of research did you do here?" She asked, her face lighting up like that of an excited child. Klein scoffed and said that a lobotomite like herself could never understand science. Angered by his statement, she retorted, "Well, then you have to prove that statement since I seriously doubt you have even the slightest idea of what I am capable of. My sister here is very skilled with guns. However, I know more ways of killing a man without weapons than my sister knows _with_ weapons. And believe me when I say she knows a lot of ways to kill a man with a gun." She paused to inhale, "So, I'm going to ask you again - what kind of research do you do here?"

The room was quiet and only the buzzing of machines could be heard. Minutes went by until one of them spoke up, "*Uh, Doctor Klein, I think this one may be a _tiny_ bit smarter than we thought. Possibly.*"

"HM? YES, IT DOES SEEM LIKE IT." Aurora imagined that if Doctor Klein had a chin, he would have been scratching it with wonder.

The twins glanced at each other skeptically. Nova had a murderous expression in her eyes while Aurora was fascinated by the whole ordeal and was excited to know more about the scientist and what was being researched there. The scientists hadn't killed them yet, so why should she not take the chance of learning something new? She wasn't bothered by the fact that she didn't have her brain, either, since she could still think normally as if she still had her brain.

"Well, where's my brain?" Nova exclaimed angrily and glared at the brains.

"*Ah, well... you see...*"

"We lost them both."

Both of the women were quiet. They could not believe what they had just heard and both of them stared at each other with gaping mouths.

"You...w-what?" Nova stumbled on her words as she tried to register what they told her.

"They have been flushed away, their wrinkly _smooth_ surfaces traveling through the pipes..."

"TO DOCTOR _MOBIUS_."

Aurora had no idea who this 'Doctor Mobius' was and waved her hand in the air, her brows furrowed. "And who exactly is this Doctor? Is he also a think tank?"

"YOU ASK TOO MANY QUESTIONS, LOBOTOMITE."

Aurora rolled her eyes at the floating brain and taunted, "WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING?" Nova gave her a look that said, 'don't anger the brain' and nudged her sister in the ribs. The brain did not look amused, but Aurora ignored him and continued speaking, "Nova, I suggest you find our brains and this Mobius guy. Otherwise, you'll be here shouting and I think the brains are going to get a headache." She winked at her rugged-looking sister.

"Fine, I'll go. But first I want a place to gear up. A place with storage, a bed and a goddamn workbench." Nova glared at the scientists, awaiting their response.

The more sarcastic of the brains stated nonchalantly, "Well, there _is_ Mobius' old room. And I think the Central Intelligence Unit still works, somewhat anyway."

"FINE." Klein wiggled his screens, "LOBOTOMITES, YOU WILL RETRIEVE THE BRAINS."

Aurora had not planned to retrieve anything and stuck around with the brains while her sister stomped off into the space of the Big Empty, discovering an odd suit and several holotapes containing the personalities of some very odd creations.


End file.
